March 19th is the feast of St. Joseph. In my Italian-American family, Cavazunes were made each year to celebrate the special day.
Each town or region in Italy has their own pastries or cakes that they honor St. Joseph with. My paternal nonna's town made Cavazunes (St. Joseph's pants), which are a fried cake filled with chick peas, honey, orange juice/rind and oil of cinnamon. The dough we use is a rich macaroni dough.
Nonna putting the dough through the roller of the pasta machine. It is fed through several times, at thinner and thinner settings.
The filling.
In the old days, the whole family would get together, as the Cavazunes are labor intensive. They would make many, many dozen of these treats. Today, my children help me make the Cavazunes.
My son putting the cakes in the deep fryer.
Not only do we honor St. Joseph, but also my own dad, who was Joseph, and my grandson, Joseph on their name day.
